Lewis Hamilton has clarified the comments he had for Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez aftermath the F1 Mexico GP, as the two talk about their races.
Mercedes’ Hamilton was left defending his second place in F1 Mexico GP than attack Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead as the pace difference was there to be seen. In fact, the Dutchman’s teammate Perez was all on his tail for several laps.
It all started on Lap 1 when Mercedes’ Bottas lost his pole and seemingly allowed Verstappen to sneak past into the lead. As per both Hamilton and Toto Wolff, the Finn could have defended the Dutchman more but they agreed that it wouldn’t have stopped him.
Several on social media took the message from Hamilton differently, while pushing it towards the Brit and the Austrian throwing Bottas under the bus. He has since clarified his comments on Instagram, noting it as natural for people to take it otherwise.
“We all have bad days. We live and learn. Yesterday I said that VB left the door open and naturally people will jump to criticise,” wrote Hamilton. “We are a team and we win and we lose as a team. There is not one single person responsible for winning or losing, we do it together good or bad. You may be able to beat us but you can’t break us! Onto the next one Valtteri, let’s keep pushing bro.”
Even after the race, Bottas didn’t react much for losing out to Verstappen and also Hamilton before his spin. The Brit, meanwhile, went on further to clarify his stance regarding Perez, which he said when speaking to Sky Sports F1.
“Their pace, it was just unbelievable, and there was nothing I could do to battle that – and when you’ve got Checo on your tail, then you know the car is quick,” said Hamilton. But this was taken as that the Brit trying to suggest the Mexican to be sub-par.
Since then, Hamilton has clarified his stance: “Just want to make sure people don’t read what I was saying wrong yesterday. I have a lot of respect for Sergio Perez and think he’s doing a great job in his new team. He’s improved so much this season and I know how hard it is to progress with a new team, it takes time.
“My comment was simply that following another car in Mexico is the hardest thing due to the low drag we all have. That’s why there is very little overtaking. However, he was able to follow so closely which highlights just how much more downforce they were able to carry. Big up Checo for keeping it clean,” summed up Hamilton.
Elaborating more on the pressure, the Brit had to give his all to remain ahead of the Mexican. His race became a touch harder after Turn 1 where he lost the support of Bottas. And with the pace Red Bull had, it was difficult to catch Verstappen then.
“I mean Turn 1 made the race a lot harder, naturally,” said Hamilton after the race. “I think having one car ahead and one car in, just means they can play on the strategy and Sergio, I think, was super-close, I think, within that first stint and I couldn’t really pull away from him, so it was a moment where they were either going to undercut us or we were going to undercut them, so we stopped, which… yeah, I think the team did a great job.
“It was just we didn’t have really much left on the tyres at the end but yeah, where there’s a will, there’s a way. We managed to just keep them behind. One more lap, I think it would have been over, but yeah, I’m happy that I still got second.”
On the other hand, Perez enjoyed pushing all-through the grand prix in pursuit of Hamilton and second place to make it a Red Bull 1-2 in his grand prix. “It was really close, as Lewis said,” started the Mexican. “There was a lap where it was so critical to do the undercut. Obviously they pitted that lap, so we did the opposite and we went long.
“It was a bit tricky with the lapped cars as well. I reckon we all lost some time there. It was really close, you know? I didn’t have a chance, you know? Overtaking here is really difficult, given their straightline speed, they were really strong on that. I didn’t have a chance so it was a bit of a shame, you know, because I think we had the pace to finish one-two,” summed up Perez.
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on Valtteri Bottas Turn 1 move